TOPS Releases a Second New for 2018 Folder

Three weeks after the release of the Fieldcraft Folder, TOPS has already started shipping its second new for 2018 folding knife. The Mini Scandi Folder 4.0 (MSF) arrives as the result of a partnership TOPS Knives just struck up with Italy’s Maserin Cutlery.

The MSF comes across as a slim, lightweight EDC flipper, with a 3.13-inch cutting edge made from N690Co stainless steel and weight of just 3.5 oz. According to the company’s Craig Powell, TOPS took inspiration from its Mini Scandi Knife neck knife, their most successful product in that category. “When you have a knife that is as popular and useful as the Mini Scandi Knife, other versions of it are bound to make sense too,” he tells us. TOPS implemented a modified Scandi grind on the MSF, just like on the fixed blade variety.

A mid-size EDC knife, the MSF is a far cry from TOPS’ other major 2018 folding knife release, the Fieldcraft Folder. Powell says that knife is intended to be an outdoors-oriented bushcraft tool. “I think we got something that is about as close as possible to that as you can have. Plus, sometimes having a 4.5” blade in a folder is a good thing.” But the MSF, with its ball-bearing flipper and blade length, takes a different tack. It’s a TOPS folder you can carry every day. “The MSF is great for slicing and perfect for EDC,” Powell notes. Although it uses a right-hand-oriented liner lock, the clip is reversible too, so lefties can carry it on their dominant side.

TOPS Knives’ CEO Leo Espinoza drew up the new flipper, but the Idaho-based company turned to Maserin to produce the knife. Powell tells us the success of this partnership could lead to others. “The Maserin collaboration may be just the start of us working with other manufacturers who care as much about quality as we do,” he says. Folding knives will continue to grow as a category in TOPS’ catalog, too. “That’s part of the plan, yes. We would love to have a larger offering of quality folders. Plus we’d like to expand our own capabilities to build folding knives here in the US too.”

Along with the MSF, TOPS also dropped the El Chappo, an overbuilt cleaver knife they first revealed last year. When we spoke to Powell in December he hinted that El Chappo might open the door for some dedicated kitchen knives, and at SHOT Show they announced the Dicer, a chef’s knife that they’ll be releasing later in the year.

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